The One Who Holds My Heart
by Claire-QuilsCutie
Summary: The untold story of Claire Young.    Lemons to come?
1. Claire

**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters of Stephenie Meyer. Thank you! **

The snow looked so soft and white outside. I longed to touch it, run my tiny fingertips through it and feel the chill. Mama wouldn't let me when we were outside. She was so beautiful; turning around to fix my car seat from the front of the car. Every time I saw her face, her beautiful eyes, I would smile. I guess she found that entertaining too. Dad was big. But so was everyone and everything else. Although he seemed to tower over everything. Even though I was young, I could observe how people would act around him. I would be down in his arms, his little pride.

I wish I could have said something. If I could only have formed words. Sometimes I feel like I should have tried harder to learn. But it was too late by the time I had something important to say. Daddy saw it last second, but by then the car had already spun off of the road. Suddenly I couldn't tell which way was up. Everything was going around me. Mama was screaming. I remember that the most. Then everything was still, and broken. Daddy didn't move. Mama didn't turn around. Everything was still and dark. There was snow in the car now. I reached out and touched it. It was soft and cold. But it wasn't white anymore.

* * *

><p>"Do you have any plans this year?" Emily looked over at me from the drivers seat.<p>

"I dunno yet. Guess I'll just flow with each day," I shrugged and continued to look out the window. I loved La Push during this time of year, Summer brought the birds.

"Maybe you and Sam can go on a fishing trip again." Just what I needed. Another two weeks of Sam and I bickering about my life, stuck with him out in the middle of a lake on a tiny boat.

"Mnhm," I just nodded and sighed softly.

"Claire, I know Sam can be a little harsh but-"

There wasn't much that made me angry. But for someone to defend Uncle Sam for grounding me because I wanted to see the man who loved me? That was pushing it. "I'm sorry Em but there's no excuse for this. I did nothing wrong." I folded my arms and glared through the window. "Neither did Quil."

Aunt Emily sighed heavily and pulled into our driveway. "You know, Claire, he's just trying to protect you."

"From what? Like Quil's going to hurt me any time soon." I snapped and got out of the car quickly; grabbing a bag of groceries I stormed into the house then up to my room.

I wasn't a native like Emily and Sam. But I wasn't like some of the other people here. Mom was an outsider and Dad had been a tribal leader. I never asked about them, but I knew that much. And no matter how much I tried to fit in with the people here, I always felt like they looked at me different anyway. It didn't matter who adopted me, which school I went to, or who had imprinted on me. None of it changed who I was in their eyes. It was always the worst with the elders. Their eyes spoke of sorrow and pity. I hadn't noticed it until a few years ago. It didn't help with my whole plan of fitting in exactly.

I laid down on my bed and stared at the ceiling. My fingers laced around the silver chain around my neck, feeling the metal wolf attached on the link. I always did when I was troubled by something. By now I had to figure out a way to escape this prison.

"Claire?" Emily knocked on the outside of the door. "Sam's working late tonight, would you like to have a ladies night?"

The urge to roll my eyes tempted my mind. But I could never hate Emily. Sam on the other hand..."Maybe," I replied, eyes glued to the white swirls on the ceiling. I smirked at how she still treated me as a child, explaining that Sam was at 'work.' As if I didn't know everything by now.

"Well your birthday's coming up. Maybe we can go to Seattle this weekend," She offered.

I simply rolled over onto my stomach, gazing out the large window in the back of my room. "I suppose."

With that I heard her leave hesitantly. Emily was so caring, so gentle. It hurt me inside to be so cold to her. But after all, I was 'grounded.'


	2. Quil

**Quil**

"So what do you plan on doing then?" Embry tossed a rock into the waves at the bottom of the cliff. "I mean, Sam'll kill you if you even think about going and getting her."

I looked from my shoes to the water. "It's my fault that she's in trouble in the first place. I can't get her in any more of it by being stupid."

"But he shouldn't have the power to do that. Your her imprint, it physically hurts you to be away from her. Trust me, it shows," for emphasis Embry looked me up and down. "What's it been? One? Two-"

"Three weeks," I grumbled and covered my face with my hands.

Embry shook his head and threw another pebble. "I'm telling you man, go get her. She's eighteen now isn't she?"

"Nineteen in a few days."

"Exactly. She shouldn't even be living with them. She's old enough to take care of herself." He put his arm on my shoulders. "Look, all you gotta do is go to the guy and tell him what's what. He can't deny your imprint from you, that's not fair."

I gave him a skeptic look. "We're talking about Sam here. Sam."

Embry nodded and took it into consideration. It was nice that he was trying to help, but between his ears, I figured there was nothing but air. "I guess your right. So what's the plan then?"

I sighed heavily and ran my hand through my hair. What was the plan Quil? You couldn't just stroll on into his house, take her over the shoulder like some barbarian and walk out like nothings wrong. Sam would've ripped your head off for even coming to the door. On the other hand, if I had tried to wait him out, see if maybe he'd let Claire go on her own, I wouldn't get killed, but would die in pain of waiting for her. Either way, I was a dead man. So which would be quicker?

"I got one, but you're gonna help me right?" I looked at him. Embry was loyal to the pack, sure that's one thing. But the two of us and Sam weren't exactly buddies either.

He chuckled. "What else would I want to do?" He pushed me in the shoulder gently. "So what's the big idea? Raid the house, take the women and run?" He winked.

Laughing I shook my head and stood up. "Nah, we're gonna sneak in."

"Sneak?" Embry did a double take and stared at me. "Quil, you are one of the worst sneakers I know."

"I know," I agreed and smirked deviously. "That's why you're gonna do it."

Embry laughed at me hesitantly then gaped. "Woah, wait you're serious?"

I nodded, smirking.

"Dude, that is the worst idea you have ever had." He stood up and tossed his handful of pebbles into the water below.

"It's brilliant and you know it," I followed him, unlocking my truck on the way.

"Ok, maybe, but how are we gonna get her out of there without Sam seeing?" Embry looked skeptically at me and slid into the passenger seat.

"He's patrolling tonight. He'll be too busy to pay attention," I replied simply and hopped into the drivers seat, starting the ignition. "That means it's just Claire and Emily back at the house."

"Yeah I know what that means," he rolled his eyes. "But that doesn't mean Emily's just going to step aside and let you take her with you."

I shrugged. "With Em, you never know."

Embry thought otherwise. "No, you need her distracted."

I shook my head. "I don't know how...unless..." I was never good with formulating plans. "What if we got Claire to?"

He gaped at me. "You've lost it. Dude, you're-"

"No, think about it," I put the truck in drive. "Claire's gonna wanna take some stuff with her if she's going to stay at my place right? While we take care of that she can be downstairs distracting Emily. Then she just comes back up and we take her with us. Simple."

Embry considered it for a moment. "I guess you're right...so what are you gonna do when Sam comes home to find his only adopted child missing?"

Now I had given some serious thought into that. Ever since Claire had gotten big enough to drive, Sam had became more and more protective. Laying down rules, curfews, punishments. I never would have thought that he would punish Claire after seeing how happy they were as a family when she first moved in. But now that she's grown up, and I'm here, everything's changed. Simply because I couldn't get Claire home five minutes sooner, he grounded her for a month. Even if she is eighteen. I had asked her about moving out before, but she hushed me instantly. We both knew how Sam would react if we even dared to think about it. And I knew Sam wasn't one to mess with.

"We'll move to Australia."


End file.
